So it's a light weekend leading up to next week's big Sea Otter event on the coast, but there are a still a few places that you can get some minute last tune-ups:

Tonight's (Friday 3/31) Short Track XC event at the Fool's MTB race marks the start of the weekend's festivities in the Whiskeytown NRA. The event is described as "Starting at 5:00 you sign in for your first lap when your ready, hit the 1-mile loop as hard & fast as you can." Online registration is closed but you can also register onsite.

Continuing at the Fool's MTB Race on Saturday, is a XC race is scheduled for between 2.5 and 9 miles on different courses depending on category. The race starts early tomorrow morning, so you need to get your stuff together and roll up there tonight. More information on both the XC-ST and XC race are available at http://www.trailtime.net/.

Finally, on Sunday, TBF Racing is having their Real MTB Triathlon. For those of you who have been itching to try out their new wetsuits all winter, here is the chance to test their thermal limits. Held in Folsom Lake in Granite Bay, CA, the race is part of Xterra's USA Championship Series and is described as "The race starts with a half-mile swim in Folsom Lake, water temperature around 62 degrees (ed - My ass it's 62, think more like 50). Wetsuits are permitted (ed - think required) for all athletes. The 16-mile bike course on single track trails around the lake is two loops with mixed terrain of single track, downhills, climbs, sand, and packed decomposted granite. The 3-mile run has a mix of trails and roads." This is going to be brutal race -- I can see the lake from my house and it looks high and cold. Registration is still open here.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

On the heels of the announcement for the "Where The Trails Return", the Trinity River Pirates have scheduled a new and unique gravity event for Hoopa, CA (north of Eureka). The Slippery Eel Chainless 2006 is a pure gravity downhill race -- no chains on the bikes, just momentum (The guys will have equipment onsite to remove/replace your chains). This event will be run on the Slippery Eel trail and have both A lines and B lines (men, women and youth).

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

*** ALERT: They got a foot of snow at boggs 3/28 and it's supposed to rain throughout the weekend. So, this weekends events have been rescheduled for April 29th and 30th, with the 29th being the CC, and the 30th being the high school race. ***

I'll update this when I see the official results posted. Of course, there is also some bitching about the race organization over at the RideMonkey forums. So while I've read the complaints (couldn't attend as I was sick this weekend with the flu), I saw all the preparations that the RideSFO guys went through to pull this race off and if the worst glitch was not having a few medals on hand, I would consider it a raging success.Props to the RideSFO guys for bringing some gravity to NorCal.

P&R Sports has posted the results for the final race of their spring series. Congrats to George Stephenson III for holding it down for the Sierra foothills scene with a 2nd place in the Pro/Semi-pro category.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Wow, this came out of nowhere: Trailtime.net is hosting the Fool's Day Mountain Bike Race (PDF link) on March 31st and April 1st, 2006 in the Whiskeytown Nation Recreational Area. On Friday night (March 31st), they will have Short Track competition and then on Saturday (4/1) they will have a XC race. The fees range from $25 to $60 depending on races and accomodations. Registration is available here.

Friday, March 24, 2006

Velo Bella Kona is organizing a mountain bike skills clinic this Saturday (tomorrow, 3/25/06) for the ladies. Held onsite at Fort Ord (the site of the CCCX races), this clinic will include both lectures and riding with lunch included. Clinic attendees will also get a discounted entry fee for the CCCX 4 race on Sunday. Many more details over at the Surly Gurl Clinic blog.

This week marks the run up to the traditional start of the MTB racing season (Sea Otter Classic) and you've got some tough choices to make: Do you venture north to finish off your aerobic base with some short track racing ? Maybe head south to finish off your strong pre-season start in the coastal local series ? Get your downhill on with the first year of a new Bay Area classic ? Or pedal up to Wine Country to endurance race for a cause ? Choose wisely young grasshoppers.

Saturday's Bogg for Africamarries endurance XC racing with social change by donating their profits to AIDS relief in Africa. It's a eight hour marathon at Bogg State Demonstration Forest in Cobb, CA (north of Napa) for solo or team participants. There's a great swag of prizes, a cool course and even a nice T-shirt awaiting your karma boosting but calorie depleting pedal.

Moving south on Sunday brings us to the fourth race in the CCCX XC series. CCCX 4 takes place in Fort Ord's East Garrison in Seaside, CA (north of Monterey, CA) and covers 5 mile laps of rolling, fast XC trails. Check out my race report of CCCX 2 for some ideas about the race scene. CCCX 4 starts at 9 AM on Sunday.

Last, but not least, the first really North NorCal event of the season isTeam Bigfoot's Pre-Otter. Set six hours north of Sacto in Arcata, CA, the Pre-Otter looks to blow the cobwebs off your aerobic system with multiple laps of short track XC racing.

Four types of MTB racing in four corners of NorCal; Not bad for one weekend. If you are stuck deciding which of these races is closest to you, check out the NorCal MTB Racing Map for some clues.

These are NORBA sanctioned races and require a license (one day licenses available onsite). Fees and registration are detailed here. I'll be updating this story throughout the week as more information becomes available.UPDATE (03/29/06): The April 1 & 2 races have been rescheduled. See here.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Last weekend's CCCX 3 race results have been posted. And some photos. Other than a little chilly conditions (I was on the golf course in sunny Georgia), it appears that the coastal folks put on another beautiful race. The next CCCX race is this weekend, March 26th.

The Eagle Cycling Club has announced the 2006 Skyline Park MTB race for Sunday, May 21st, 2006. The race, held on the former World Cup venue, benefits the Skyline Park trail system and the NorCal High School Mountain Bike League. The course is described as "A fun, demanding and challenging course. 8 miles & 1600 feet of climb per lap (subject to change) 80% single track. Uses parts of the 1999 World Cup course. Number of laps to be determined by category. Pro/Semi-pro/Expert 3 laps, Sport 2 laps, and Beginner/Junior 1 lap."

Monday, March 20, 2006

Updating my previous post about Team Bigfoot's racing schedule, they have posted some updates on the upcoming Pre-Otter race this weekend. The race will be a short track XC event, with multiple 1.5 mile laps depending on racing category (4 laps beginner, 6 laps sport & 10 laps expert). It's described as "We're taking the popular Stomach Churn course and at the top of the course over the fence we're adding an all new singletrack descent that's super-fun and super-swoopy."

Although Arcata is quite a hike from the Bay Area / Sacto / Tahoe corridor, this sounds like a lot of fun. For those of you making the drive up, you can check out the current Arcata weather conditions HERE.

Sorry about the lack of updates this weekend, but I had a little technical glitch with my laptop that prevented me from actually publishing this blog. I'm back in NorCal and fixed the issue (obviously), so expect a torrent of updates this week.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Although the Valentine's Day special has expired, our friends at Specialized has extended a new 20% off registration for the 2006 Sea Otter Classic. Take advantage of this offer HERE or just download the PDF form. The registration is via mail ony (no online) and must be postmarked by March 17, 2006.

It looks like TBF Racing had a pretty good turnout for the MTB Challenge #3 on Sunday. I count 76 riders, which is especially good considering the rain/cold temperatures and the competing Cool MTB Race. Results have been posted HERE.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

So I knew that I was in for a long day as soon as I got to Darrington Trail on Salmon Falls Road. It was obvious that Friday's scouting report of the Cool MTB Race was not quite correct. To illustrate the difference, on Friday the trail looked like this:

Whereas today, by the time I parked, Cool looked like this:

While the weather had obviously not cooperated, the Cool MTB Race crew had organized a nice race. The course layout was swoopy with some long uphills, they had an efficient registration and an enthusiastic crowd (more cowbell!). But wow, today's weather really made for a miserable race. In fact, the organizers even acknowledged the fact by asking the racers if they really wanted to do more that one lap (not that any group was willing to cut their race short).

The trail was quite simply a mess. What was a mudfest became unrideable for large parts - either it was a actual stream or unclimbable due to the snow and mud. Stream crossings were sketchy at best and it seemed like almost everyone had some kind of mechanical problems (sidenote: shimano components really don't like freeze mud). It's really too bad that the weather went so south -- I think this would have been a great race, in say May. UPDATE: Someone posted two great photos over at MTBR (they are near the bottom of this thread).

As you can imagine from the general demeanor of my report (and past races), I didn't have a good race. By the end of the first lap, I had broken two fenders (front and back, at mile 1 and 4), suffered two epic diggers (complete endo into the water on one), burned through my back brake, lost all feeling in my feet and iced up my rear derailleur. And posted a sweet 1:33 lap time. For ten miles. Needless to say, I racked up the first DNF of my year and my career today.

Friday, March 10, 2006

I took a quick drive out to Cool today to check out the course conditions before Sunday's big 14th Annual Cool Mountain Bike Race. And I can truthfully report, it is going to be one muddy ride.

The course is a rolling ten mile loop in the Auburn State Recreational area off HWY 49 just south of Auburn, CA. The course has no major hills (probably a couple hundred feet of vertical climbs per lap) and seems to be mostly well maintained single and doubletrack (fireroad). The course conditions today were a mixed bag. In most places, it was moist, hard pack with a bit of gravel (i.e. really nice and fast). But in place where water has pooled, the mud took on a consistency of quicksand. And deep quicksand. In

some muddy areas, I saw horse hoofprint that sank 4 or 5 inches. I don't know how much worse this will get, but it just started raining here, so it certainly isn't going to get any better before Sunday morning.

The other striking point of today's trip up to Cool was the temperature. While my two pictures don't show it, even the Louie dog was freezing his ass off. There were flurries of snow in the air and the trusty coatpull thermometer said it was 39F. Looking at the weather forecast, I don't see it being much above the high 40Fs for Sunday morning.

Sunday's race registration starts at 8 AM (you can also check-in on Saturday at Auburn Bike Works [ MAP ]) and the pre-race meeting commences at 10:30 AM. Awards and prize raffles will be held immediately after the race. The organizers were just setting up the race registration area while I was walking the trail today and the one thing that struck me was the complete lack of parking. A word to the wise, be looking for parking spots well before you get to the firehouse in Cool.

Sand Hill #3 is P&R Sports Mountain Cross third race of the spring series. The lone Bay Area event this weekend, Sand Hill Ranch is just north of Livermore, CA. Signup and practice for the races begin at 8 AM, while qualifying starts at 10:30 AM. While this race is mountaincross (MTX), the next race in the series is dual slalom (DS).

Chanoko MTB Duathlon #2 will be held at Folsom Lake Recreational Area (near Granite Bay, CA). The duathlon is a 2-mile run, 10 mile mountain bike and another 2 mile run race through the park grounds. The course is relatively flat with some rolling hills and singletrack. The race cost $45 until race day when it rises to $55. You can register online at the active.com website. Registration opens 6:30 AM with racing at 9:00 AM.

MTB Challenge #3 is be held on the same grounds as Saturday's dualathlon (Folsom Lake Recreational Area in Granite Bay, CA) with a slightly different course map. Depending upon your division, you will be doing 1, 2 or 3 laps of the 10 mile course. The race is $40 (rising to $50 on race day) and you can also sign up at the active.com website.

The 14th Annual Cool Mountain Bike Race takes you over the muddy trails of the Olmstead Loop trail near Auburn, CA to benefit local trail maintainers. Each lap is about 10 miles, with beginners doing one lap, sport two laps and experts three. The race starts around 10:30 AM after a mandatory riders meeting. The race is limited to 425 riders -- I am not sure if registration is still open or not. Check the website for more details.

Although there are forecasts for snow (yes, I said SNOW!) in the area on Saturday, I will be riding in the Cool Mountain Bike Race this Sunday. If I get some time today, I will post a scouting report on the Olmstead Loop trail conditions.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

The Reno Wheelmen has posted their mountain bike racing schedule for 2006. This Reno, NV local XC racing series is held on Thursday nights throughout the spring and summer and should nicely fill in the regional racing gap in May and June. The series encompasses both the Twilight MTB (TMTB) series, which start at 6:30 PM, and the Sierra Youth Cycling League (SYCL), which start at 4:30 PM. The races cost $5 per race and registration is held onsite. Race dates and locations (with nice google maps) are detailed below:

Monday, March 06, 2006

P&R Sports has posted the results for the second race of their spring series. It looks like they had a pretty good turn out for the dual slalom event, especially considering the bad weather this weekend. It looks like George Stephenson III from nearby El Dorado Hills' Northern Lights team has grabbed the early lead in the Semi-Pro/Pro category with a win this weekend (and a second last weekend).

Since I get a lot (I mean a lot) of search hits from google and msn asking about these race series, let me just post that these following race series have not yet been scheduled for 2006, as far as I know:

Prairie City Races Series (PCRS) Fall Flash. These XC races haven't been scheduled (since the PCRS Spring series is just starting) but usually begin in August and run through early September. I also raced these last year and they are a blast.

As I get more information on any of these events, I will update this entry.UPDATE (03/09/06): The Reno Wheelmen have scheduled their Twilight series. See here.UPDATE (03/20/06): Skyline has been scheduled. See here.UPDATE (03/22/06): Billy Cross has been scheduled. See here.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Well this certainly a promising turn for NORBA. Maybe someone has been listening to all the grumbling from last year:

USA Cycling announced today that six of the seven 2006 National Mountain Bike Series events have been included on the UCI Calendar and USA Cycling will provide prize money for the UCI-sanctioned events.

The National Mountain Bike Series events in Fontana, Calif., May 5-7 and Banner Elk, N.C., June 10-11 have been granted Category 2 status from the UCI, while incumbent races in West Dover, Vt., June 17-18, Park City, Utah, July 8-9, Brian Head, Utah, August 5-6 and Snowmass Village, Colo., August 12-13 have received Category 1 status from the international governing body.

As a requirement for UCI sanctioning, USA Cycling has contributed more than $33,000 in prize money and inscription fees towards the national series – an important element in determining the number of start positions the U.S. will receive at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

In addition to securing more UCI-sanctioned events in the United States, USA Cycling will also announce plans next week for supporting its top professional riders to attend World Cup events in 2006 and 2007 in an effort to secure maximum start positions for the Beijing Games and further prepare athletes for world-class competition.

Friday, March 03, 2006

Saturday: The second gravity event of the season is P&R Sports Dual Slalom debut race of the Sandhill Spring Series. The race is located at Sand Hill Ranch just north of Livermore, CA. Signup and practice for the races begin at 8 AM, while qualifying starts at 10:30 AM. This is a NORBA sanctioned event (so bring your license or pay the one day fee). Registration is onsite for $30/race. Parking is an extra $5. This is the second race in the series.

It's probably just as well, since the weather is supposed to be crap for Sunday anyway. Next weekend will be a little more action packed.

It looks like they have finalized the dates for the 2006 Downieville Classic for the weekend of July 28 - 30th, 2006. This makes for a killer July full of NorCal racing: Cougar Mountain, NORBA Championships and Downieville are back to back to back weekends.

The Downieville Classic a weekend festival of riding and racing, featuring possibly the world's most famous downhill and a point-to-point XC course. The Downieville Downhill will come on Saturday and is being pegged as 4700' descent through almost 15 miles. Record holder Mark Weir will be defending his title again this year. Sunday's XC point-to-point race will 28 "rugged" miles through the Sierra Buttes on a stretch of course known as the Trail of Tears.